AT&T sideloading officially a go, designed to allow Amazon Appstore downloads (update)
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/OBCnbGbROifnDXnEwel0kg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTQwNQ--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/S2L83KuQzv9FscYrxm037g--~B/aD0yNTM7dz02MDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/05/5-17-11-att-sideloading.jpg)
It's the end of an era, folks. See that block of text up there? That's AT&T's promise not to keep you from installing whatever Android apps you choose. Starting with the Samsung Infuse 4G, you can expect the carrier's new Google-powered phones to have that all-important "Unknown sources" box available to toggle at will. As we heard in March, the measure was designed to let third-party markets like the Amazon Appstore function properly, but don't let that keep you from having a little fun -- we're sure your own repurposed creations are just as good. Of course, none of this helps your existing AT&T droid one bit... unless it's also true that the Aria, Captivate and Inspire 4G will also have sideloading enabled ASAP. We can hope.
Update: Wired spoke to AT&T and confirmed that existing Android devices will be updated to support third-party apps: "Over the next few weeks, we will also roll out this capability to existing devices in our base for which an upgrade is possible," a spokesman reportedly said.